GARDEN PERILS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 101, 23 January 1943, Page 6

GARDEN PERILS

Plants That Poison UNSUSPECTED SOURCES OF DANGER (By “The Hoe.”) It is not generally realized that almost every garden harbours a number oE plants which can, under certain circumstances, prove poisonous to man. This fact was impressed oil ‘•The Hoe” this week when three very worried gardeners called to seek assistance in determining the cause of their painfully poisoned hands. Investigation showed that in one case, if not in two, tlie skin poisoning was caused by handling the most common of all garden plants—tlie potato! The potato belongs to one of the most poisonous of plant families, known to botanists as solanaceae, and has as close relations such well-known purveyors of narcotic poisons as deadly nightshade, belladona, lenbane, datura (stramonium) and bittersweet. The- small green tomato-like fruits which occasionally form on the tops of potatoes contain a poisonous alkaloid, and it lias long been known that potatoes exposed to the sun until they turn green undergo a chemical change which renders them poisonous in the raw state. It is not generally known, however, that the sap of the haulm contains an irritant to which some people are allergic. Probably not one person in several hundred ("or thousand) is sensitive to the potato sap, but when he is the result is often extremely painful. Those who have reason to suspect this plant should wear gloves when harvesting it. Because the potato is a representative of a poisonous family, it does not follow that the tubers are dangerous. On the contrary, potatoes play an important role in human nutrition and have been eaten (cooked )of course-) for centuries. This warning really refers to the handling of the haulm, vine, or top growth, whichever you prefer to call it. Some Poisonous Plants. It is not uncommon for certain parts of a plant to be poisonous while other parts are highly nutritious. A classic example is the homely- rhubarb. Ihe stems, as most people know, have certain health-giving properties, but the leaves, on the other hand, are highly poisonous. This was demonstrated in a tragic manner in England a few years ago when someone conceived the idea that rhubarb leaves were a good substitute for spinach. Many people tried it—some died ! AVe have ranch to learn concerning the toxic qualities of plants; it is known that the degree of toxicity varies witli the seasons, and that the quality of the soil has a marked influence on the amount of poison contained in many of the better-known medicinal plants. Man also varies from your to year in liis susceptibility to plant poisoning; for half a lifetime he may consider himself immune- to the poisonous quality of primula, for example, only to find one day that he is allergic to it. Other popular garden plants that have poisonous qualities are: Delphiniums, monkshoods, laburnums, foxgloves, primulas (including some varieties of polyanthuses), many of the anemones, helleborus, coichicum (autumn crocus), poppies, lily of the valley, daphne, yew, and some of the rhus (smokebush) family. The poison ivy, which causes a seasonal epidemic of poisoning in the United States of America is one of the most dangerous of all plant poisons. Its correct name is rhus toxicodendron. Although the foregoing list is described as plants having poisonous qualities, it does not necessarily follow that they should be excluded. Tlie average gardener might handle them for a lifetime and remain oblivious to their more sinister side, but a knowledge of their vices is most desirable where children are concerned, and, in any case, helps in diagnosing the cause when an occasional case of skin poisoning is debited in the garden.